Lord of Fire (40 page)

Harry gave her a sloppy, puppy-dog kiss on her cheek, proudly showed her a few of his scabbed-over chicken pox, then rushed over to hug Peg. “Nana!”

“Good day, Master Harry,” Peg greeted him matter-of-factly, as though everything were back to normal.
Alice admired the woman’s self-possession. When he stretched out his arms, pleading to be picked up, Peg chuckled and lifted him. He clung on around her neck like he would never be pried off. “Now, then, have you been having a nice Town holiday?” she asked him.

As Harry began to chatter about the stray cats that lived in the garden, Peg met
Alice’s gaze meaningfully.
Alice nodded, readier than ever to do battle. She caressed Harry’s downy-fine hair.

“I’m going to tell your mama we are here.”

The child shot her a strange look at her mention of Lady Glenwood.

“What is it, lambkin?”

He laid his head on Peg’s shoulder. “She’s a mean lady.”

Alice
’s eyes widened, but she found herself at a loss for how to answer. She glanced at Peg. “Perhaps you and Nellie should take Harry up to the nursery.”

Peg nodded shrewdly. The shouting that was soon to come might upset the boy.

“Mrs. Tate, allow me! You cannot carry His Lordship to the third floor,” the butler protested.

“Oh, I’m as strong as an old plow horse, Mr. Hattersley,” Peg said, stoutly, shooing him away.

“Dear heavens, you shall strain your back!”

Nellie followed them to unpack
Alice’s things for her stay.

Alice
watched them fondly from the bottom of the stairs until they had disappeared from view, then braced herself and walked slowly down the hallway to the morning room. She paused, allowing her simmering rancor to bolster her resolve. She glowered inwardly at the memory of Caro at the Grotto—drunk, disheveled, throwing herself at Lucien. The woman had attacked her, screamed at her, then abandoned her to her fate at

It would be difficult to keep a cool head when Caro had so thoroughly wronged her and those she loved, but whatever happened,
Alice reminded herself, her main objective was to make Caro rehire Peg. That was all. Not only for Peg’s sake, but for Harry’s. Without bothering to knock, she strode into the morning room, seizing the advantage of surprise.

“Good afternoon, Lady Glenwood.”

Reclining on the scroll divan, Caro looked up from her newspaper and quickly masked her shock, narrowing her eyes with a catlike smile. “Well, right on schedule, I see! One week—just as our mutual friend specified.” She cast her newspaper aside.

Keeping a firm rein on her temper,
Alice turned around and closed the door.

Caro looked quite different, she thought, on her guard. The baroness had abandoned her doll-like curls and instead wore her hair in a sleek, smooth chignon. Her visiting gown exuded modesty and restraint. It was made of mahogany-brown velvet with black piping and a small ruff of ivory-colored lace peeping out from under the long, tight sleeves and around the high neck. Finally, she had begun to act her age,
Alice thought; then she realized what the gown signified. Caro had put off her black crape for half mourning. By custom, a widow was to wear black and black only for two full years, but Phillip had only been dead for a little over one year. To
Alice, it was the final insult to her brother; Caro could not even pretend to mourn him for the appropriate period.

It was all she could do to bite her tongue on the matter. Phillip would have agreed that what mattered right now was Harry. And Harry needed his nurse. She clasped her hands behind her back and lifted her chin. “I wish to speak to you about Peg Tate.”

“How grim you look, my dear. Something’s missing . . . hmm.” Caro suddenly clapped her hands to her cheeks in mock surprise. “Oh, no! Could it be your virtue? Where have you left your shiny halo?”

Alice
stared coldly at her.

Caro trilled a laugh and rose gracefully from the divan. “Let me have a look at you, dear. Our little Goody Two-Shoes is not so good anymore, is she? Don’t worry. No one knows what you’ve been doing—no one but me, that is. Ah, poor little
Alice, fallen to earth like her wicked sister-in-law. I can see it in your eyes, but don’t fret, I shall never tell. It’ll be our little secret, just us girls and Lucien Knight. Tell me, what did you think of it?”

“Of what?” she asked in a low warning tone.

“Fucking,”
Caro whispered.

Alice
bit her tongue to keep from answering in terms she would regret.

“Isn’t he magnificent? I love the sound he makes, that primal
growl
when he’s on the verge of . . . well, you know,” she murmured coyly.

Feeling as though she had just been clearly run through with a rapier,
Alice glared at her, her eyes blazing with pain and fury, her cheeks aflame.

“Now, now, what’s this?” Oh . . . you little fool,” she whispered. “Surely you didn’t fall in love with that wolf!”

Alice
could not speak. She just stared at her in angry misery.

“But you did, didn’t you? Yes, of course you did. You
would
.” Caro rested her hands together suddenly, tilted her head back, and laughed with elegant glee. “Oh,
Alice, poor little fool.”

Alice
’s voice was stuck in her throat, choking her. She cast about for something to say to change the subject, for she could not bear another second of this torment. She seized upon another subject to stop herself from breaking down in tears. She would never give her sister-in-law that satisfaction. “I heard that you struck Harry,” she said through gritted teeth.

“Oh? That bulldog-faced, old woman has been talking to you, I see. Well, do not concern yourself with my son—he is
my
son, Alice. It is time he learned discipline.”

“And you who have never learned it yourself are the one to teach him?” she asked bitterly.

Caro sent her a warning glance over her shoulder as she went to pour a cup of tea from the silver service on the table. “I am, along with a bit of help, perhaps, from the man who may soon become Harry’s new step-papa. There is a new man in my life,
Alice—oh, such a man! A great, blond, Prussian barbarian. I just might marry him if the fancy takes me; then Harry and I will go to live in
Berlin
with von Dannecker.”

Alice
stared at her, paling. “You can’t be serious. You can’t take Harry away!”

“Don’t worry, my dear, you may come, too, if you wish. But don’t even think about stealing von Dannecker from me the way you stole Lucien.”

Alice
dropped her gaze to the carpet, struggling for equilibrium. She forced herself to ignore Caro’s wild plans for the moment, concentrating on the main reason for this conformation. “Caro, you must hire back Peg Tate. How could you dismiss her? She has been with our family for twenty-five years, not to mention that Harry adores her. You cannot throw her out on her ear—”

“Yes, I can,
Alice, and I can do the same to you if I please. After what you’ve been through, surely by now you’ve learned your place. I daresay you’ve tumbled off your pedestal, hmm?”

Alice
’s nostrils flared as she drew in another angry inhalation, fighting to check her temper. She lifted her chin, but bit back her retort.

“I have made some changes in your absence,” Caro went to. “It’s time you acquainted yourself with them.” Tea and saucer in hand, the baroness turned and faced her coolly. “I have taken back control of my life and my household. From now on, I am to be treated with the respect that is my due. You and Harry and the old harpy have yet to learn a proper respect for me.”

“Usually one’s respect must be earned,”
Alice growled.

“That is just the sort of cheek I refuse to take from you anymore, you little whore!” Caro said, her eyes flaring with malice.

“How dare you?”

“Well, that’s what you are, aren’t you? I know it. I know what you’ve done, so don’t put on airs with me, or you may remove yourself from my house and be on your way. Don’t forget that I can deny you access to Harry.”

Alice
stared at her, stunned anew. “You wouldn’t.”

“Try me.”

Alice
blinked rapidly, trying to absorb this most terrible threat. “What do you want of me?”

“Ah, that is better. You see how much nicer it is when we get along?”

Alice
glared at her in loathing.

Caro smiled blandly and sipped her tea. “Now, then. Our first order of business is for you to put in a few appearances in Society to reassure everyone that you are quite recovered from your bout of influenza. It is essential for women like us to keep up appearances.”

Alice
fought with herself to hold her tongue over that remark.
I am not like you,
she thought.
No matter what I did with Lucien, I never will be like you.

“Society is rather thin these days, but there is a concert tonight at Countess Lieven’s and a ball at the Argyle Rooms on Friday. You will attend both.”

“I can’t. It is the French lady’s visit,” she muttered.

“I see. Very well, you may be excused from the concert tonight, but you
will
go to the ball on Friday with me. You should be quite recovered by then.”

“What about Peg?”

With an aloof expression, Caro looked down her nose into her tea, clearly relishing her position of power. “Swear to me that you will forever stay silent on everything that took place at

Alice
studied her in disgust. Clearly, the baroness had realized that if the ton found out that
Alice had been Lucien’s mistress, and that Caro, her own guardian, had willfully contributed to her downfall and had done nothing to protect her, then both of them would be shunned. It was one matter for Caro to be known as a scandalous adventuress, but quite another to be exposed as a villainess so petty and jealous that she would help to ruin her own maiden sister-in-law. Perhaps Caro did not want her new Prussian lover to know the kind of woman she really was,
Alice thought.

“Do you swear?” Caro prodded.

“I have no intention of ever publicly acknowledging Lucien Knight,”
Alice replied in a deadened tone. “Before I left, we agreed to treat each other as complete strangers, as though we had never met.” The words shot a spasm of pain outward from her heart to her whole body, but she kept her gaze even, her face expressionless.

“Good,” Caro replied. “Then it will be our little secret. As a token of good faith, I will allow Mrs. Tate to stay—but I will hold you responsible for keeping that meddling old harpy out of my path. And tell her I demand an apology.”

Peg was going to fume at having to humble herself before Lady Glenwood, but for Harry’s sake,
Alice knew that she would. “Very well.”

Caro smiled brightly and smoothed her hair. “Well, then, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”